A seated Tallboy and friend
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The basket is pretty flimsy, but the tin-can base is precious
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The right-hand figure is above average in high, so the one on the left is really tall -- almost two feet
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Another old can-bodied figure sold on eBay in 2013. That's two I've seen like this. Thanks to Lynne Bailey for giving me this one
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Turtles were a popuar shape. The one in the middle goes over the top with a built-in cigarette lighter
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The most common of the bottle-cap turtle patterns
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The Oshkosh Master of the Carved Nose and Mouth, after 1963
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The Oshkosh Master of the Carved Nose and Mouth, after 1963
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The supporting post is a standard feature for many larger figures
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I suppose the matched pair are meant to be clowns; note the feet
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I love the figures with bodies made from one piece
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Three modes of sitting
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The figure on the left was produced in quantity. I've seen more than a dozen of them. Not sure if the body was purpose built for bottle-cap figures or adapated from some other use
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Three by the Wisconsin Master of the Tallboy
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The middle piece is one of the most common bottle-cap figure patterns
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The left-hand figure is the shape for which a patent was issued in 1970, years after basically equivalent figures -- just not so slim -- were being made in large quantity
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Made by me
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A modest example of work by Clarence and Grace Woolsey, the bottle-cap geniuses of western Iowa
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These two figures are from the collection of Herbert Hemphill, one of the pioneering collectors of self-taught art. The best of his collection is in the Smithsonian, but I landed these when the remainder was auctioned. I had admired the one on the right for years after seeing it in a published photo of Hemphill in his crowded apartment
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Admittedly, not cap art, but similar. Presumably made by Tom Every, Dr. Evermore of Wisconsin
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So much to love about this pair
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The middle figure was marketed on eBay as a hippie. I've never seen a log figure like the one on the right
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Three of my best pieces. Years after I acquired the sausage holder, I saw another figure of similar design. The middle figure is standing on a music box. And then there is Lucy
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Two examples of unusual materials. Obviously no bottle caps on the left, even though the figure is otherwise conventional. And someone actually drilled into the stainless steel to make the figure on the right.
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Three made by me
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